Driving mechanism for merry-go-rounds



A. SPILLMAN 1,727,490

. 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 2 Sept lo, 1929.

DRIVING MECHANISM FOR MEHRY- GO-ROUNDS SCP- l0, 1929- A, sPlLLMAN r1,727,490

DRIVING MECHANI SM FOR MERRY- GO-HOUNUS Filed March 2, 1927 2 sheets-sheet 2 Patented Sept.l 10, 1929i.

UNITED STATESd ALBERT SPILLMAN, 'oF NORTH TONAWANDA, `New Yoan.

DRIVING MECHANISM rFOR MERRY-GO-RONDS.

Application led March 2,

My invention relates to improvements in driving mechanisms for amusement devices of the mer-rygo-iound type wherein a rotated platform is used, and the object of the invention is to devise a rfrictional mechanism for engaging and rotating the platform, such mechanism constituting the driving connection between a source of power and the amusement device.

j A further object of my invention is to swingably mount the frictional engaging means upon the plat-form so that it rides in engagement therewith at all times irrespective of any slight undulating movement thereof which often` exists when these machines are of the port-able type, and a still further object of my invention is to construct my driving mechanism of a minimum number of parts so thatA any complication or eX- tensive adjustments in its erection are entirely obviated.

My invention consists of an amusement device, constructed and arranged all as hereinafter more particularly described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical cross sectional'view through a fragmentary portion of a merrygo-round, showing my driving mechanism in engagement with the rotatable platform thereof. y

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the fragmentary' portion of the merry-go-round illustrated in Figure 1, and,

Fig. 3 is a side elevational view ofthe swingable support for the frictional platform engaging means, taken through the lines 3-3 Figure 2.

Like characters of reference indicate cor` responding parts in the different views.

The merry-go-round in which mydriving mechanism is shown incorporated consists substantially of a machine built according to usual practice andconsists in its essential arts of a center post 1, supported upon a base 2 of cruciform formation, and retained in its adjusted vertical position by a plurality of tie-rods 3, which extend from a member 1, positioned intermediately of its height to the ends of the arms of the cruciform base i927. 'serial Nt. 172,177.

2. 5 are a plurality of horizontal sweeps eX- tending radially from the post 1, their inner ends being secured withina sweep hubf', which is rotatably` mounted upon such post and positioned immediately above the member 2 and rotatably secured upon a roller bea`r-- ing 7. The outer ends of the sweeps 5 arey each supportedby a. tie-rod 8, such tie-rods extending from a ring 9which is rotatably secured upon the yupper rend' of tliepost 1, being mounted between a pair of collars `10 and 11 which are secured in any suitable manner to the post. f f r f t The rotatable platform 12 is of ring-shaped formation and supported by a. pluralityof depending pairs of rods 13 andfllf, a pair of rods depending from each sweep and connect' ed to the platform in the vicinity of its outer and inner peripheries respectively. For sup porting the horses and for giving them the trotting motion the usualy radially extending crank shafts 15 are furnished, the outer ends of such shafts being mounted within bearings 16 and 17 positioned centrally upon inner and outer connecting bars 18 and 19 which extend between adjacent sweeps, the cranks of course being connected to the upper ends of the horses supporting rods 20L f -f f Upon the center post 1, and'immediately above the sweeps 6, I secure a crown lgear 21,y and the inner ends ofthe crank shafts 15 which extend through suitablypositioned inner bearings22 upon vthe hub 6 being provided with beveled vgears 23 which ymesh with the crown gear. 'It will thus be seen that as the platform is rotatedvby meansof kmy drive which Ishall now describe, that as the crown gear 21 is stationary and the sweeps and crank shafts 15 rotate about the post 1, that the engagement of the beveled gears 23 with such crown gear will ycause them to rotate withy the resultant rotation of the crank shafts and the reciprocating motionof the horse supporting rods 20. j c y A channel iron/'211 is provided to rextend between the inner ends of two adjacent arms of the cruciform base 2, a ,bearing 25 being suitably secured thereonand adapted to re-` ceive the inner end of a radially extendingy drive shaft 26.` 27 is a'driven shaft of substantially the same diameter' as the shaft 26 and extending in an alignment therewith from its outer end to the inner periphery of the platform 12, the adjacent ends of the shafts 26 and 27 being connected by means of a universal joint 28. 29 is a third shaft positioned underneath the shaft 27 and lying in alignment therewith, its outer end extend ing to the inner periphery of the platform 12, in like manner to the shaft 27, and its inner end rotatably mounted within the lower bearing of a twin bearing bloclr 30,.the upper bearing of such twin block being adapted to receive and support the inner end of the shaft 27. 31 is an angle iron extending outwardly from the arm of the base 2 upon which one end of the angle iron 24 is secured and adaptedto lie upon theground,and 32 is asecond angle iron extending from the vicinity of the outerend of. the other arm of theybase2, tothe end of theangle iron31,

such angle iron 32 being positioned in a sub# stantially parallely relation to the lchannel iron 24, the end which engages the base being bent so asto permit its major portion'lying upon the ground in a similar manner to the angle iron 31. 33 is a plate mounted upon the upper face of the angle iron 32 underneath fthe twin bearing kblock 30 and furnished with a pair of upwardly vextending spaced apart lugs 34, the lower portion ofthe block being positioned between the lugs and swingably mounted upon a pin 35, which extends therebetween. By this particular construction the twin bearing bloclt 30 is permitted a swinging movement in a radial direction.l Y

The outery ends of the shafts 27 and 29 havey friction rollers 36 and 37 thereon which engage the upper and lower faces of the platformfatits ,inner peripheral edge and con. stitute the frictional driving. means therefor. and 71 are a pair of meshing gears positioned upon the shafts 27 and 29 respec- 1 tively, being 0f the same diameter and con-v stituting the means for rotating the shaft 29 at the same speed as, land in the opposite direction to the shaft 27.

For retaining the friction rollers 36 and 3T against the respective upper and lower faces of the platform, I furnish a bearing structure` in the vicinity of the outer ends of the shafts 27 and 29 which; consists ofl a lower bearing block 38 through which shaft 29 ex- "I tends, and an upper bearing block 39 through which the shaftl 27 extends.

The bearing blocks 38 and 39 are each provided with a pair of horizontally extending Varmsl() having enlarged members 41 formed upon the ends thereof. and 42 and 43 are a pair of ver* tical rods which extend through such menibers 41, the upper ends ofthe rods being adapted to receive a plate 44, projecting freely through suitably positioned orifices Ain the ends thereof. The members 41of the bearing block 39 are connected by a bridge-piece 45, 46 is a spindle extending upwardly from the center of the bridge-piece and projected freely thereof a centrally positioned orifice 47 in the plate 44. 48 is a spiral spring positioned about the spindle 46 and interposed between the upper face of the bridge-piece 45 and the lower face of the plate 44. 49 and 50 are upper and lower nuts threaded upon the ends of the rods 42 and 43 for retaining the assembly in its assembled position.

The rod 42 is of greater length than the rod 43 so that its upper end projects toa greater decree and is adapted to receive the looped lend 51 0f an upper. arm 52 of a V-shaped member 53, vthe lower arml 54 of which is Yalso looped and adaptedto be received upon such angle iron being also bent to conform with the inclination of the member, and 57 is a pin freely passing through the end of the member 53 and the angle iron, so thatfthe member is permitted a vertical rocking movement thereon. Upon the drive shaft 26, I positionrthe driving pulley, clutch, and braking mechanism following the usual practice in this type of construction. The driving pulley 58 is formed integrally with a female clutch member 59 both of which are freely rotatable upon the shaft 26 and suitably held against longitudinal movement thereon. 60 is the male clutch member of substantially truncated conical form and adapted to slide upon the shaft and enter the female clutch member. 61 is a feather provided upon the shaft 26, andadapted to be slidable within a slot in the male clutch rmember and thusy prevent such member from rotating upon the shaft. 62 is a shaft extending between the angle iron 31 and one of the arms of the base member 2 being positioned in suitable bearings and passing underneath a groove 63 in the male clutch member. 64 is a bifurcated clutch actuating member secured upon the shaft 62 underneath the clutch and having its bifurf cated ends one on either side of the groove 63 and furnished with inwardly extending bosses 65 which project into the groove. 66 is manually actuated clutch handle secured upon the shaft 62 for rotating it to actuate the clutch. The braking mechanism can be of anyapproved type such as that shown in the drawings wherein a lbrake band 67 passes around a brake drum 68 secured upon the shaft 26 and is operated by means of amanually actuated lever 69.

The operation of my inventionis as follows:

When it is desiredto rotate the platform mer/,49o

12 the clutch beingin the outfposition, the pulley 58 is rotated by means of a belt passing from any suitable source of power such as a gasoline motor, as illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 2, such pulley will of course lfreely rotate upon the shaft 26. The brake is then taken off by'means of the lever 69 and the male clutch member gradually moved into the female clutch member 59 by means of the handle 66 which swings the shaft 63 and the clutch actuating member 64 in a clock wise direction, and as the bosses on the ends of the member' 64 project into the groove 63 in the male clutch member, such member will be moved to the engaging position.r When the clutch commences to grip the male clutch member will commence to rotate 'under the influence of the female clutch member and in turn rotate the shaft 26 upon which it is slidably keyed. As the shaft 26 is connected to the shaft 27 by means of the universal jointy 28 the shaft 27 and the platform engaging roller will also rotate and as the shaft 27 is furnished with a gear which engages a gear 71 of the same diameter upon the shaft 29, the rotary movement of the shaft 27 will cause the shaft 29 and roller 3T to rotate in an opposite direction thus both the rollers 36 and 37 engaging with upper and lower faces of the platform will both be instrumental in causing its rotation. When it is desired to stop the movement of the device the male clutch member is moved outwardly from the female clutch member by means of the handle 66 and as the device has suflicient momentum to rotate for some little while after it is disconnected from its source of power the rotary movement of the shaft 26 is retarded by means of the brake band 61 actuated by the lever 69 and the movement of the device stopped.

Upon reference to Figure 3, it will be seen that as the plate 44 is slidably mounted upon the rods 42 and 43 and spaced apart from the bridge-piece 45 of the upper bearing block by the spiral spring 48, that when the nuts 49 upon the spindles are tightened that the plate 44 will be moved downwardly thus compressing the spring 48 and bringing the roller 36 into resilient engagement with the upper face of the platform, also as the spindles 42 and 43 freely pass through the members 41 upon the upper bearing that the tightening of the nuts to compress the spring will cause the bearing block 38 to move upwardly under the influence of the spring and bring the roller 37 into close contact with the lower face of the platform, thus by tightening the nuts 49 and compressing the spring 48 both the upper and lower rollers 86 and37 Will be resiliently held in contact against the faces of the platform. As the V-shaped member 53 which retains the bearing assembly and shafts 27 and 29 in their aligned position is swingably mounted upon the curved end of f the angle iron 32, the mounting ofsuch member will permit the bearing block assembly andshafts 27 and 29 to move upwardly and downwardly to a certain degree in following any small yundulations in the rotary rmoveis to be understood of course that the means s for taking care` of undulating movementof the platform is really aprecautionary meas-- ure as the platforms are designed torun true, but when this type of machine has been in use for some time and has been dismantled and assembled very frequently, the plat-form may acquirey an Y imperceptible undulating movement which would be suflicient to bring it out of Contact with one or other of the rollers and cause slipping if suchfrictional driving means were not swingablymounted in respect to theplat-form. f'

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that I have devised an. extremely simple form of driving mechanism i for amusement devices of the merry-go-round type wherein a rotated platform is` used, my drive being applicable to any standardtype ofmachine without necessitating extensive or costly alterations. Furthermore by directly connecting my driving mechanism to the rotatable platform'l have rdevised a drive which isa considerable improvement over the standard type of drive ingeneral use wherein the machine is rotated from the vicinity of the center post which necessarily puts :a `greater strain upon the source yof power when overcoming the inertia of a yloaded `machine and whilst putting it into motion.

What I claim as my invention is: l

1. In an amusement device, the combination with a passenger carrying means'including a rotated yplatform and a source of power, of' driving means actuated by the source of power, and adapted to` frictionally engage androtate the platform and means for swingably mounting the frictional portion of the driving means whereby such portion is supported by the platform. f f

2. In an amusement device, the combination witha passenger carrying means inclnding a rotated platform and a source of power, of driving means actuated by the source of power for rotating the platformrand com prising, a driving shaft, a driven shaft, a uni versal joint connecting the drive shaft with the driven shaft, means on the driven shaft for frictionally engaging the platform, and resilient means for retainingk the` frictional means in contact with the platform.

3. In an amusement device, 'the combinalli? ylO

tion with a passenger carrying meansv including a rotated platform and a source of power, of driving means actuated by the `source of power for rotating the platform and comprising, a drive shaft, a pair of driven shafts, flexible means connecting the driving shaft with the driven shafts, means on the driven shafts forfrictionally engaging the two faces of the platform, a bearing assembly for retaining the driven shafts in their aligned position, resilient means incorporated in the bearingassembly for, retaining the frictional means on the driven shafts in contact with the platform, and means for swingably mounting the bearing assembly7 whereby the fric-V tional ends of the driven shafts are supported by the platform.

4. In an amusement device, the combination with a rotated passenger conveying structure and a stationary structure, a source of power, a plurality of frictional rollers actuated by the-source of power and swingably secured to one of the structures and frictionally engaging the other structure to constitute a vdriving connection there-between,a pair of roller receiving faces on said'engaged structure, and unitary resilient means for retaining sai-d rollers in contact with both of said faces.

5. In an amusement device, the combination with a rotated passenger conveying structure and a stationary structure, a plurality of frictional rollers swingably secured to one of the structures and frictionally engaging the other to constit-ute a driving connection there-between, a i pair of roller receiving faces'on said engaged structure, a unitary resilient means for retaining the rollers in contact-with both of said faces, a sourceof power, and means connecting the source of power with the rollers so that each rollerconstitutes a driving medium.

6. In an amusement device, the combination with a passenger carrying means including a rotated structure anda source of power, of a driving shaft actuated by the source of power for rotating the structure, a pair of roller receiving faces on the rotated vstructure, a driven shaft, a universal joint connecting to one end of the driven shaft, with the driving shaft, a frictional roller upon the other end of the driven shaft engagingone of the faces of the rotated structure and supported thereby, a second driven shaft geared to the first driven shaft, a swingably mounted bearing through which the first driven shaft passes and in which one end of the second driven shaft is journaled, a frictional roller on the other end of said shaft engaging the other face of the rotated structure, and unitary resilient means for supporting the roller end of the second driven shaft and for retaining both of saidshaft rollers in contact. with the rotated structure faces.

7. kIn an amusement device, the combination with a passenger carrying means including a rotated structure and a source of power, of driving means actuated bythe source of power for rotating the structure and comprising, a ydriving shaft, swingable driven means connected to the driving shaft and frictionally engaging the rotated structure, and resilient means for retaining the frictional means in contact with the structure.

8. In an amusement device, the combination withfa passenger carrying means including a rotated structure and a source of power, of driving means actuated by the source of power for rotating the structure and comprising, a driving element, a swingable driven shaft, means on the Idriven shaft for frictionally engaging the rotated structure, and r'esilient .means for retaining the frictional meansin contact with the structure.

ALBERT SPILLMAN. 

